Using the map, you will discover that Rondout Valley farms are full of wonders.

Hudson Valley Seed Library

Photo courtesy Ilene Cutler

April Flowers on Hurley Mountain Road

April Flowers is a floral design service in the Hudson Valley that offers an abundant cutting garden of seasonal flowers, specializaing in growing and sourcing sustainable local flowers for weddings and special events. April Kinser and Brittinee Sideri began working together in 2013, combining a love for flowers with their backgrounds of working with flowers and the landscape, as well as years of event planning and management. Trained as a visual artist, April designed CelebrityPath at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as well as created several site-specific artworks that were installed in New York City and the Catskills that focused on honoring nature. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship prize in Architecture for her environmental installations.

Jack Hoffman and his daughter Nicola collected 10 stickers!

Jack said that without exception every farm they went to was an adventure and they learned something new.

We made this Stick to Local Farms Cookbook recipe over the weekend with peaches from New Paltz and blueberries from the Rondout Valley. Instead of using white grape juice for the gelatin, we used elderflower syrup that we made in June. It was fantastic!

April Flowers is a floral design service in the Hudson Valley that offers an abundant cutting garden of seasonal flowers, specializaing in growing and sourcing sustainable local flowers for weddings and special events. April Kinser and Brittinee Sideri began working together in 2013, combining a love for flowers with their backgrounds of working with flowers and the landscape, as well as years of event

planning and management. Trained as a visual artist, April designed CelebrityPath at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as well as created several site-specific artworks that were installed in New York City and the Catskills that focused on honoring nature. She is the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship prize in Architecture for her environmental installations.

Gail Appel collected all the stickers!

Bruce Appel collected all the stickers!

Kelder's Farm

Photo courtesy Ilene Cutler

Genie Aguirre collected all the stickers!

Award for collecting all the stickers--a market bag filled with farm goodies.

The beautiful Rondout Valley's vast, flat bottom lands are sheltered between the spectacularly craggy Shawangunk Ridge and verdant, pillowy Catskill Mountains. Defined by the Rondout Creek, which meanders from the Catskills to the Hudson River, the valley has extraordinarily fertile alluvial soil up to 20 rock-free feet deep. Native Americans grew corn in ancient days, and today the area boasts a wide diversity of agriculture, from original Dutch farms, such as 300-year-old Saunderskill Farms, to new enterprises with innovative, experimental practices, like the Hudson Valley Seed Library. The valley is one of the most concentrated farming areas in the Hudson Valley, with vegetable, fruit, dairy, flower, herb, livestock, nursery, tree and horse farms, giving it the ability to support an almost complete locavore lifestyle.

Many thanks to Ilene Cutler and Alan Carey, who kindly gave permission for their beautiful photographs to be used.